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Title details for The Lions of Iwo Jima by Major General Fred Haynes (USMC-Ret.) - Available

The Lions of Iwo Jima

The Story of Combat Team 28 and the Bloodiest Battle in Marine Corps History

by Major General Fred Haynes (USMC-Ret.)
James A. Warren
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It was the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, claiming a third of all marines killed in World War II. The relentless fighting on Iwo Jima lasted for thirty-six days, but most of us only know the iconic photo of five soldiers raising the American flag on Mount Surabachi. For Fred Haynes, a young captain in Combat Team 28, Surabachi was one marker in a ferocious blood-letting against an enemy of 22,000 warriors who were dug into caves and tunnels.


The stories told here for the first time will seem too cruel, too heartbreaking, even too fantastic to be believed. As one veteran remarked, "Each day we learned a new way to die." By the time Haynes's unit had broken through the main Japanese resistance, 75 percent of the three assault battalions—the frontline fighters who charged enemy positions—were gone. Many of the exhausted survivors were shattered. In five weeks, Combat Team 28 had advanced 5,600 yards, closed 2,088 caves, and lost 5,885 lives.


The Lions of Iwo Jima helps answer the essential questions: who were these men, how were they trained, and what accounts for their extraordinary performance in battle?

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 19, 2008

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400127382
      • File size: 263469 KB
      • Duration: 09:08:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Major General Fred Haynes (USMC-Ret.) recounts his role as captain of Combat Team 28's frontline maneuvers during the invasion of Iwo Jima. The Major General spares no details of the brutalities of war and the courage of the unit while also offering steely insight into the planning and strategizing of the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history. Capturing the author's stoic and bluntly descriptive recollection of the battle with a gritty military cadence of his own, Michael Pritchard marches side by side with the grunts of CT 28 as they attempt to conquer the Japanese stronghold. A broad lineup of the actual Marines involved in the operation is introduced, and Prichard documents their fate in a grizzled and compassionate manner. A.P.C. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 16, 2008
      Haynes, who was a captain at Iwo Jima, and military historian Warren (American Spartans
      ) revisit familiar ground in this account of the 1945 Pacific battle, relying heavily on Haynes's own memories of serving with the 28th Marine Combat Team. The 28th landed with the initial assault on February 19, 1945, capturing Mount Suribachi after four days despite fierce opposition. While America cheered the famous flag-raising photograph, fighting continued for another month during which most of the 28th became casualties. The book is not a critical analysis of events. The short biographies of senior officers contain only praise; the enlisted men are colorful but dedicated; controversies that surrounded the invasion's planning and execution appear, but the authors do not take sides. Even the Japanese appear as brave and skillful soldiers. The book's first half, which ends with the invasion, will hold most readers, but the conquest of the island, page after page of gruesome, almost suicidal small-unit actions against an enemy that fought to the death, may lose all but Marine aficionados.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 4, 2008
      Haynes, who was a captain at Iwo Jima, and military historian Warren (American Spartans) revisit familiar ground in this account of the 1945 Pacific battle, relying heavily on Haynes's own memories of serving with the 28th Marine Combat Team. The 28th landed with the initial assault on February 19, 1945, capturing Mount Suribachi after four days despite fierce opposition. While America cheered the famous flag-raising photograph, fighting continued for another month during which most of the 28th became casualties. The book is not a critical analysis of events. The short biographies of senior officers contain only praise; the enlisted men are colorful but dedicated; controversies that surrounded the invasion's planning and execution appear, but the authors do not take sides. Even the Japanese appear as brave and skillful soldiers. The book's first half, which ends with the invasion, will hold most readers, but the conquest of the island, page after page of gruesome, almost suicidal small-unit actions against an enemy that fought to the death, may lose all but Marine aficionados.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from February 1, 2009
      Together with Warren ("American Spartans"), Haynes, the last surviving officer of Marine Combat Team 28 involved in planning and coordinating the team's battle for Suribachi on Iwo Jima, here illuminates that battle. He includes not only official statistics, communications, and citations but also individual stories gleaned from letters, interviews, and reminiscences from both the American and Japanese sides. With skillful pacing and rendering of the combatants' voices, veteran narrator Michael Prichard ("If Death Ever Slept") draws listeners into the violence of those four days of battle. An optimal choice for libraries where there is an interest in the history of combat, the U.S. Marines, the battles of World War II, and the experience of war.Barbara Valle, El Paso P.L., TX

      Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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